【英语语言学习】教授哥斯拉

A small college outside of Little Rock, Arkansas, called Hendrix College, is about to get a new president. His name is William Tsutsui.

He's a Harvard- and Princeton-educated economist¹. But he's most known for his expertise² in Godzilla. Yes, Godzilla. Reporter Doualy Xaykaothao from member station KERA found he developed the passion for the radioactive monster while growing up in Texas.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GODZILLA")

DOUALY XAYKAOTHAO: That's the roar that Bill Tsutsui first heard when he was 8 years old living in the tiny college town of Bryan, Texas.

BILL TSUTSUI: Unlike many Japanese Americans, I've not ever had the experience of living in a place with a large Asian-American community. So I've never lived on the West Coast. I've never lived in Hawaii. So for me, it's really been, in a way, a very lonely experience.

XAYKAOTHAO: Tsutsui was an only child, and he was biracial. His dad was Japanese, and he had an Anglo mom. There was only one other Asian-American family in Bryan. He felt like an outlier and was bullied³ so much he had to be transferred to a different school.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GODZILLA")

XAYKAOTHAO: But everything changed that day as he lay on the shag carpet in his parents bedroom watching a big old Sylvania TV set.

TSUTSUI: I see this huge Japanese monster dragging his scaly⁴ feet through Tokyo, and I thought, that is so cool.

XAYKAOTHAO: Life became more fun.

TSUTSUI: I'd be Godzilla and James would be Rodan. And we'd have this epic⁵ battle of monsters of the playground at Davy Crockett Elementary School in Bryan, Texas.

XAYKAOTHAO: Tsutsui went on to become an economist. He wrote books about business and banking⁶ in Japan. Most recently, he was a dean at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

TSUTSUI: I realized all the books I wrote about Japanese history, most of the people who read them were my relatives. Whereas, I wrote about a giant rubber monster rampaging through toy cities in Japan, and tens of thousands of people read it. So I'm actually real proud to be known as the guy that studies Godzilla.

XAYKAOTHAO: His first book on the giant lizard⁷, called "Godzilla On My Mind," earned him a new nickname, recalls Tsutsui's wife, Marjorie Swan.

MARJORIE SWAN: Often, his students had trouble pronouncing his last name, Tsutsui, and so they'd call him Professor Godzilla.

XAYKAOTHAO: It wasn't always easy being the wife of Professor Godzilla.

SWAN: I've had to draw a very firm line in the sand about how much Godzilla is allowed in the house. So he has to have very large professional offices to take up all the Godzillas.

XAYKAOTHAO: Paul Dunscomb recalls the lengths Tsutsui would go to acquire Godzilla paraphernalia⁸. Dunscomb is a former student of Tsutsui's who did his dissertation⁹ in Japan.

PAUL DUNSCOMB: He actually sent to me his bank card and passbook¹⁰ so I could draw on funds to basically buy for him Godzilla-related merchandise. It is one of the things that certainly defines him as a human being - the fact that he has the rather, you know, outsized love for a 50-meter radioactive lizard.

XAYKAOTHAO: Tsutsui looks at it like this.

TSUTSUI: Asians are not really known in this culture for being really leadership types. Godzilla clearly was the boss. You know, he was in charge. He was the hero. He was the focus of these movies. And I think from that I've, perhaps, taken some lessons about leadership and stepping forward and asserting myself.

XAYKAOTHAO: And as the new boss of Hendrix College, Tsutsui's planning to make his mark by putting a giant inflatable Godzilla out on the quad¹¹ for his inauguration¹² next spring. For NPR News, I'm Doualy Xaykaothao.

1 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

2 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

3 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 scaly   

adj.鱼鳞状的；干燥粗糙的

参考例句：

• Reptiles possess a scaly,dry skin.爬行类具有覆盖着鳞片的干燥皮肤。
• The iron pipe is scaly with rust.铁管子因为生锈一片片剥落了。

5 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

6 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

7 lizard   

n.蜥蜴，壁虎

参考例句：

• A chameleon is a kind of lizard.变色龙是一种蜥蜴。
• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect.蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。

8 paraphernalia   

n.装备；随身用品

参考例句：

• Can you move all your paraphernalia out of the way?你可以把所有的随身物品移开吗？
• All my fishing paraphernalia is in the car.我的鱼具都在汽车里。

9 dissertation   

n.（博士学位）论文，学术演讲，专题论文

参考例句：

• He is currently writing a dissertation on the Somali civil war.他目前正在写一篇关于索马里内战的论文。
• He was involved in writing his doctoral dissertation.他在聚精会神地写他的博士论文。

10 passbook   

n.存折；顾客赊欠账簿

参考例句：

• You fill out this application form and we'll issue you a passbook.你填好这张申请表,我们会给你一本存折。
• Would you please give your withdrawal slip and your passbook?请把您的取款条和存折给我好吗？

11 quad   

n.四方院；四胞胎之一；v.在…填补空铅

参考例句：

• His rooms were on the left-hand side of the quad.他的房间位于四方院的左侧。
• She is a 34-year-old mother of quads.她是个生了四胞胎的34岁的母亲。

12 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。